American Indian Studies

Director: Theresa Gregor

Program Department Office: F03-308

Telephone: (562) 985‑4184

Faculty: Kimberly Robertson, Theresa Gregor, Thomas James Reed, Kelly Stewart

Emeritus Faculty: Craig Stone

Academic Advisor: Theresa Gregor

Department Administrative Support Coordinator: Art Neri

AIS offers a minor and certificate; many courses meet GE requirements; contact Program Director for advising.

College: College of Liberal Arts  

Courses: AIS  

Career Possibilities

Teaching and Higher Education • Tribal, State, and Federal Government • Non-Profit Work • Social Work • Healthcare • Environmental Studies • Public Policy • Business • Cultural Preservation • Museum Studies • Public Administration • Law and Law Enforcement • Engineering • Planning and Policy Development • (For more information, contact the Program Director for advising. Please visit the Department website)

Introduction

The Program in American Indian Studies is robust, and it is the oldest American Indian Studies program in the CSU. Designed to prepare students and professionals with an integrated course of study in American Indian knowledge production, history, education, culture, art, politics, and social work through participatory research, community-engaged scholarship, and experiential learning. AIS serves the diverse and dynamic needs of our regional, urban, and California/American Indian populations through a curriculum grounded in place-based knowledge, American Indian epistemology, activist history, and community-based practices of resistance, revitalization, and continuity. Our courses provide students with workforce ready skills, knowledge, and experience for dynamic educational and career preparation. Our faculty are subject-matter experts that have a record of community and community cultural practice as practitioners in their respective fields/areas of applied research, experience, and teaching.

The Program in American Indian Studies offers a Native American Cultures Minor  (15 units) and an American Indian and Indigenous Studies Certificate  (21 units) for MA students and for continuing students seeking professional development. The Minor and/or the Certificate which can be easily combined with many majors in the College of Liberal Arts or other degree programs.

Programs

• Native American Cultures Minor

• American Indian and Indigenous Studies Certificate

Courses

Note: General Education Category A must be completed prior to taking any upper-division course except upper-division language courses where students meet formal prerequisites and/or competency equivalent for advanced study.

• AIS 100A - Composition I
• AIS 100B - Composition II
• AIS 101 - Introduction to the Study of Native American People
• AIS 105 - American Indian History - Pre 1871
• AIS 106 - American Indian History - Post 1871
• AIS 119 - Introduction to Racial and Ethnic Studies
• AIS 222 - American Indian Museum Studies
• AIS 308 - California Indian History
• AIS 313 - American Indian Genders and Sexualities
• AIS 319 - Racial and Ethnic Experience in the United States
• AIS 335 - American Indian Philosophies
• AIS 336 - Indigenous Philosophies of Sustainability
• AIS 340 - American Indian Literature
• AIS 345 - Working with American Indian and Indigenous Families
• AIS 410 - American Indian Creative Cultural Practices
• AIS 421 - Critical Perspectives in American Indian Studies
• AIS 450 - American Indian and Indigenous Cinema
• AIS 454 - Contemporary Indigenous Arts in the United States and American Territories
• AIS 485 - American Indians and the Law
• AIS 490 - Selected Topics in American Indian Studies
• AIS 497 - Fieldwork in American Indian Studies
• AIS 499 - Directed Studies